Kapex 120 losing power

[BJM9818]

2013 vintage Kapex. It’s been bad for a while, luckily I don’t use it every day but I’m on a 5kft2 remodel now and it’s annoying.  Cutting 2X material I’ve started to make a 1/2 cut followed up with a full cut.  Works a little better with a new blade but still pitiful.

Problem -this saw has been ridden hard and put away wet. 

Dust collection at the blade is missing from my father borrowing it to cut a PVC pipe and it exploded tearing off the plastic holding the rubber deflector.

Various knobs are bent, saw sat outside for a month while I worked on a deck. Customers rear yard too far to carry it back and forth daily.  Covered it with a trash bag but undercarriage a little rusty.

So far no smells of burnt electric. Any other issues why the motor is slowing down? 

I’m on the fence about sending it back. Don’t feel like paying shipping both ways and investing more than a few hundred in the saw.  I would rather buy a new one and blow this out on marketplace for a few hundred. 

From
My reading doesn’t sound like the brushes, could it possible be the motor slowly dying? 

Earlier today I was about to buy a 120 off the Recon site but at the last minute pulled the trigger on a 60.

I still would like a functioning 120 just unsure if this is a lost cause trying to fix it.

 

[Cheese]

2013 vintage Kapex. Its been bad for a while, luckily I don’t use it every day but I’m on a 5kft2 remodel now and it’s annoying.  Cutting 2X material I’ve started to make a 1/2 cut followed up with a full cut.  Works a little better with a new blade but still pitiful.

So far no smells of burnt electric. Any other issues why the motor is slowing down? 

I’m on the fence about sending it back. Don’t feel like paying shipping both ways and investing more than a few hundred in the saw.  I would rather buy a new one and blow this out on marketplace for a few hundred. 

Well, here's a recent Kapex repair cost to give you an idea. However if your saw has other bent/broken or missing items, Festool will replace those parts so you'll have to add those in also. So you'll be over $750.

Or you could always fix it yourself for about half of that.
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...-started-backup-and-died/msg717392/#msg717392

 

[BJM9818]

Guess my question is when the motor starts to fail does it slow down before it starts to smoke or could this be something else? 

 

[squall_line]

If you haven't checked the brushes, that's the first place to start, IMHO.  The brushes should have a disengagement insert to prevent the motor from running when the brushes get low, but if they're just on the cusp it could be slipping in and out of contact.

At least 50% of the "it can't possibly be the brushes" issues I've seen people post have turned out to actually be just the brushes.

 

[BJM9818]

If you haven't checked the brushes, that's the first place to start, IMHO.  The brushes should have a disengagement insert to prevent the motor from running when the brushes get low, but if they're just on the cusp it could be slipping in and out of contact.

At least 50% of the "it can't possibly be the brushes" issues I've seen people post have turned out to actually be just the brushes.

Thanks.  After a decade I wouldn’t rule out the brushes. Part of the reason I bought the 60 just incase it’s an easy fix. 

 

[Packard]

You might also want to check your line voltage.  Years ago, I burned out a very expensive studio lighting power pack.  It was plugged into a wall outlet that had a dimmer switch which I never used. 

Somehow that switch was set to “dim” and I burned out a $6,000.00 power pack—this was back in 1982, so in current dollars just a hair under $20,000.00.

Luckily it only cost about $1,000.00 to repair.  But a painful lesson.

My dentist had a automatic line voltage cutout.    The power company was supposed to let him know when it powered down by 10% or more.  But they didn’t count the first 5%, so they would only really let him know if it dropped by 15%.  Enough to damage his digital X-ray equipment.

 

[Coen]

Equipment that "breaks" on under voltage should have the protection build in.

I can tell you not all power companies choose to add the under voltage release option for the switchgear they buy, hehe.

 

[Packard]

Equipment that "breaks" on under voltage should have the protection build in.

I can tell you not all power companies choose to add the under voltage release option for the switchgear they buy, hehe.

I’ve been told that the inexpensive low voltage detectors that they build in are not particularly reliable.

They are like the finger print reader for my computer.  Probably a $3.00 item.  The highly accurate readers that law enforcement uses was in the $10,000 - $15,000 range.  I see that they are now under $1,000.00, with the cheaper ones being about $60.00 - $75.00.

I’m pretty sure my laptop does not have a $1,000.00 reader or even a $75.00 one.  It is going to be something from China that is under $10.00.
https://www.bayometric.com/fbi-certified-fingerprint-readers-fingerprint-sensors/

In any case my dentist was not going to risk a $25,000.00 machine to a $50.00 voltage reader.